Comparative Morphology of the Genus <i>Tamarix</i> (Tamaricaceae) in Iran

Abstract

Tamarix L. with almost 54 species is the largest genus of the Tamaricaceae. This study was carried out on species of Tamarix that growing in Iran. Morphological characters were obtained for 23 species recognized by recent taxonomic treatments from Iran. In this study we use 10 characters to identify species of Tamarix that growing in Iran. For SEM studies, we used dry sampels of leaves and flowers. Some characters are useful for segregating certain species, such as gross leaf morphology (vaginate vs. sessile), number of floral parts, certain aspects of androecial disk morphology, petal shape, presence or absence of hairs on the raceme rachis, and whether the filament is inserted under or from the side of the androecial disk. In some species the number of sepals, petals and stamens are constant and reliable. One of the problems in Tamarix is that in many species the number of certain floral organs is inconstant thus the number of floral parts alone can not serve as a diagnostic marker without being correlated with the relative position of the organs and their range of numerical variability.